Query Celiac, 4 Days Into A Gluten Free Diet

[Jailbirdstar]

My little boy is 15 months old, and from some time around his first birthday back in March his poo became like grains of sand which were extremely hard to get off his skin. Basically they would fall off him with the wipes, onto the change mat and I would clean it up from there. It didn't have a particularly dreadful smell, just like poo really. He has never had a solid, proper, poo. He was breastfed till he was 1.

He is completely well in every other respect, full of life, hardly ever sick, sleeps well, walks, starting to talk. He is small for his age, but then all three of my children are small.

I did a google search and one link came up with the possibility that he was gluten intolerant...poo was described as grains of salt or sand.

I spoke to my sister who has a daughter who was milk, egg and soya allergic. She said she didn't know much about gluten allergies but that she agreed that his nappies were very weird having changed one for me in April.

She suggested I start a diary, taking him off gluten products for a couple of weeks and then introducing gluten again, keeping a note of what I feed him and what his nappies look like.

Well, I started gluten free on Monday but (whether it was coincidence or something) he has had diarrhoea ever since (now Thursday). It has become quite a bit thicker and a different colour, but it's still diarrhoea. He is also teething at the moment.

Has anyone else had the same experience of sticky, sands of grain-like poo? (A friend did say her daughter had that kind of poo if she ate Weetabix, but only that). Is the diarrhoea coincidence? How long did others wait before going to their doctor? It takes quite a long time to be seen in good old England, some times even as long as a week for the initial appointment and then you have to wait for your referral.

Thanks for any help you can give me

[GFinDC]

I am no expert on kids, but I do think that a quick response to removing gluten means something is happening. If you want to have him tested for celiac though, then he needs to keep eating gluten until the blood is drawn. Just be aware that testing for celiac is not 100% accurate, and they say it is even less accurate in young children.

[Grace'smom]

I am no expert on kids, but I do think that a quick response to removing gluten means something is happening. If you want to have him tested for celiac though, then he needs to keep eating gluten until the blood is drawn. Just be aware that testing for celiac is not 100% accurate, and they say it is even less accurate in young children.

That is true...but a blood panel would indicate if there were a likelihood of celiac disease; a good GI doctor would know if the results warranted an endoscopy to be sure. And that is 100% accurate. Definitely definitely worth going through the tests to know for sure.

[Jailbirdstar]

We are now into the middle of the second week and still no grain of sand poo since I removed gluten... Will try him on gluten containing foods next week and see what happens to his nappies. Have taken him to a doctor who said it didn't sound like gluten intolerance and that his poo sounded normal to him...I've changed a few nappies in my life and never seen anything like this! Did wonder whether he would change the next one I had like that for me.

Am still keeping a food diary and will, like I say, see what happens next week when we're back on wheat.

[SweetDsMom]

I was told DS had a "virus" and that we just needed to wait it out before he was finally diagnosed w/ celiac. I would insist on having a celiac panel run, and whatever blood tests they can run to check for allergies and intolerances. Other than having to deal w/ getting the blood drawn, these are simple tests that might be able to give you some indication of what is wrong.